Advent

The last few weeks flew by, and considering that it was also Advent, they went really fast. After our trip to Berlin, I insisted on having a Turkey dinner one night, in celebration of Thanksgiving. It ended up pretty darn good for being the first time my family had even seen a turkey, (Truthahn) let alone prepare it. I got most of the staple traditional foods in, and it was just as good as being home. (And major thanks to my uncle for giving me some pointers.)

December was great; we had two consecutive weeks of snow, which added up to about 1 meter of pure white goodness. I did learn though that here in Germany, where there are no yellow school busses responsible for getting the kiddies to school, that even when there are blizzard conditions outside, you are expected to be at school on time. No snow days, no exceptions.  This made for some memorable, icy, and chilly hour long walks to school, all to be awarded with dripping wet coats and scarves to lug around all day. On the plus side I got to rent a snowboard for a long weekend, and successfully make a fool of myself on the T-bar lifts at the local ski slopes. Embarrassing, but I’m not complaining.

On the first I went for a day trip to Strasbourg, France with the school. Strasbourg has one of the biggest Christmas markets, and is nick-named the ‘Capitale de Nöel.’ It was freezing but wonderful, and I ate a heavenly warm Nutella crêpe. Strasbourg, in the Alsace, was once Germany, as one could note from the architecture and name, but it still holds a very french flair, and as the capital of the European Parliament, I also got the feel that it is a cultured town.  It happens to have a little bit of money too, which is evident when  you look at the shopping district.

On the sixth of December we had a friendly visitor from lil’ St. Nick, or better known to the German Kinder as Saint Nikolaus. We all cleaned our rooms and laid out pretty plates for St. Nickolaus to stop by with sweets and small presents. I would say it was about equal to getting our stocking stuffers a little early. Another big event at Christmastime is the Advent calendar, and not just the chocolate-a-day cardboard box bought from the drugstore, but one with little gifts every day, rotating between my host sisters and me.

I also went with a friend to an ‘Abschlussball’ one night, which is a graduation from the dance school in partnership with the secondary schools in our area. It was quite interesting, in all honesty. Much cleaner than any prom or ball in America, everyone was incredibly formal and jived or tangoed or waltzed around. Everyone asked me how long and where I had my ballroom dancing lessons; I had to respond with not even knowing that such dance schools even existed, which was then proven when I tried to dance.

An interesting week this month was when the exchange students from Nîmes in the South of France were in town. Since I will be going to Nîmes for a week in June, I was invited to go with the group on a few day trips, including the Mercedes-Benz Museum, Christmas markets, and a few other local destinations. I am, after all, an exchange student too. This week taught me two things: I am happy to be in Germany, because maybe it was just this group of kids, but I don’t think I’m really compatible with the French. Nothing against them, I just don’t understand them. The other thing is that I’m feeling really confident with my German, and my French is unfortunately awful. But considering I took German lessons as long as these students have, and I live much farther away from Germany than they do, I was kicking some butt. The most I heard them say was ‘Guten Tag’, with a timid little accent. My German classmates also have amazing French, so that helped a lot with translation.

We spent the rest of our time baking Plätzchen, Gebrannte Mandeln, and other German Christmas delicacies, swimming, and cramming in studying for tests before the holiday break.

And finally, Christmas. Posting the christmabirthdaynewyear festivities after it’s all over and done with, it’s the first thing on my list!

Happy Holidays!